For those of you who seriously wonder. I ran into a lot of people down south who were quite incredulous at the fact that not only were there black people living in America north of Chicago, but that one of them had actually ventured all the way to Tennessee to go to college. Makes for fascinating conversation as you can imagine.
Well there may not be that many people of color here by the big lake (although the latest estimated census figures puts the African-American population in Milwaukee at about 37%), and the black community here may not have as strong a presence as in other cities like Chicago, Philly, or Memphis. But we do have one cultural asset that stands alone in it's uniqueness, a landmark that is one of a kind. Milwaukee is the home of America's Black Holocaust Museum.
What's that you say? You weren't aware of the fact that there was a Black Holocaust? Well that's probably because it is an event that has been misnamed and underreported. But there are some of us who recognize what the deaths of 14 million (low estimate) men, women, and children during a global slave trade was: genocide on the grandest scale.
Now you may be reading this post and wonder, as a person who is not of color, why don't these blacks who keep going on and on about what the white man has done to them stop whining and just take responsibility for their lives?
Good point. I will suggest that to the next rape victim I hear about or come in contact with.
See those Africans that died in the middle of an ocean on the way to some land they had never seen before were pretty much raped of everything. Name, culture, religion, language. And the effect of that rape ran deeply through them as a people, so deep that it still affects their ancestors today in ways a lot of them don't even realize.
One of the first things they tell rape victims to do is to confront their attackers and accept what has been done to them. Today's descendants of those victims have been stuck trying to do that for a while. The founder of this museum wanted to help out with that cuz see he almost became a holocaust victim himself, but instead he became one of the few black men to ever face the full fury of a white lynch mob and live to tell the story.
So click on the links. Don't say no one ever told you there was more to Milwaukee than beer and cheese.
Well there may not be that many people of color here by the big lake (although the latest estimated census figures puts the African-American population in Milwaukee at about 37%), and the black community here may not have as strong a presence as in other cities like Chicago, Philly, or Memphis. But we do have one cultural asset that stands alone in it's uniqueness, a landmark that is one of a kind. Milwaukee is the home of America's Black Holocaust Museum.
What's that you say? You weren't aware of the fact that there was a Black Holocaust? Well that's probably because it is an event that has been misnamed and underreported. But there are some of us who recognize what the deaths of 14 million (low estimate) men, women, and children during a global slave trade was: genocide on the grandest scale.
Now you may be reading this post and wonder, as a person who is not of color, why don't these blacks who keep going on and on about what the white man has done to them stop whining and just take responsibility for their lives?
Good point. I will suggest that to the next rape victim I hear about or come in contact with.
See those Africans that died in the middle of an ocean on the way to some land they had never seen before were pretty much raped of everything. Name, culture, religion, language. And the effect of that rape ran deeply through them as a people, so deep that it still affects their ancestors today in ways a lot of them don't even realize.
One of the first things they tell rape victims to do is to confront their attackers and accept what has been done to them. Today's descendants of those victims have been stuck trying to do that for a while. The founder of this museum wanted to help out with that cuz see he almost became a holocaust victim himself, but instead he became one of the few black men to ever face the full fury of a white lynch mob and live to tell the story.
So click on the links. Don't say no one ever told you there was more to Milwaukee than beer and cheese.
"The events which transpired five thousand years ago;Five years ago or five minutes ago, have determinedwhat will happen five minutes from now; five yearsFrom now or five thousand years from now. All history is a current event."
- Dr John Henrik Clarke -
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